Our View: Anti-bullying event teaches the right lessons

Between the arguments about gun control and mental health, there have been numerous suggestions on these pages that teaching social skills in our schools ought to be the priority.

Between the arguments about gun control and mental health, there have been numerous suggestions on these pages that teaching social skills in our schools ought to be the priority.

That's obviously a job for parents, but it's not like it isn't a job for teachers, who may be better suited to such lessons in many cases, and who are, after all, in a social setting that prefigures the working world children are being educated eventually to enter.

One aspect of the anti-bullying event held at the Alfred J. Gomes Elementary School on Tuesday caught our eye. Teacher Beverly Tavares composed a song titled "Be a Hero" that some fifth-graders performed along with UMass Dartmouth music student Andrea Carreiro and James McBride, a Providence-based rapper who performs as Mr. Deep Positivity.

Complementing the message to students to be a buddy, not a bully, the song urges children to "take a stand," Tavares said, to reach out to victims of bullying. "The message needs to be sent out to someone who can actually do something about it," she said.

While statistics are reported with some variation, most see bullying behind school shootings far more than half the time. There is a place in every school for anti-bullying programs, and those that address the bully, the victim and the bystanders have the potential to do the most good.

We are grateful for all who work to teach children about the connection between respectful relationships and good citizenship.